EMOTION AND AFFECT IN MATHEMATICAL EDUCATION
EXPLORING A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF
INTERPRETATION
Inés M. Gómez-Chacón, Didactic of Mathematics, EDIW, Belgium
Lurdes Figueiral, Escola Secundaria Artistica de Soares dos Reis, Portugal
The reconceptualización of affective control in the present decade is marked by two
essential features. One is the attempt to consolidate a satisfactory theoretical
framework for its interpretation, the other to place it within the social context in
which learning takes place (Gómez-Chacón, 2000a and 2000b).
In this communication we present a model for the study of the interactions between
cognitions and affects in the learning of Mathematics. The model will be used for
describing emotional responses, their origin as well as for surveying their evolution
in the subjects under consideration.
Certain dimensions related to affects and cognitions are specifically focused, namely,
affect itself, meta-affects and belief systems. Attention is drawn to the importance of
taking into consideration these dimensions in investigations of this nature,
particularly in the case of school-failing students and in multicultural contexts. The
study has sought to analyse if it is possible to interpret the emotional responses of the
young from a perspective of social identity and of cultural identity
Two groups of study will be presented: One is a group of students in secondary
education in Spain and the other is a group of students in secondary education in
Belgium. The study in Spain was first accomplished.
The study in Belgium has been carried out with students of Portugese origin living in
Brussells, in their 7th to 12th levels of education, from February to June 2003. The
data collected has been attained in various forms: in clases of Portuguese language
and Portugese culture which are complementary to the ordinary curriculum; in
schools where there is a Portuguese population but there is lack of intercultural focus
(during clases in mathematics and in a weekly meeting only with those students of
Portugese origin); in schools where there is an intercultural focus in the field of
mathematics.
The investigation has been qualitative in character, combining methods proper to
etnology in case-studies.
References
GÓMEZ-CHACÓN, I. M. (2000a). Matemática emocional. Los afectos en el aprendizaje
matemático. (Emotional Mathematics. Affects in Mathematics Learning) Madrid:
Narcea, 2000.
GÓMEZ-CHACÓN, I. M. (2000b). Affective influences in the knowledge of mathematics,
Educational Studies in Mathematics, 43, 149-168.
1–378
PME28 – 2004